The tourists who flock to the sun-drenched beaches of the Caribbean can easily forget the harsh realities that face those who live on the islands. Television pictures of last month's hurricane brought a little of this reality, albeit briefly, into our sitting-rooms. But they still failed to show the poor housing and lack of adequate health care that are part of everyday life. Meanwhile, too many of the region's brightest scientists, already few enough in number, continue to leave to work in the United States or elsewhere.

A number of attempts have been made to address this situation. One, modest enough in its own way, was the creation ten years ago of a Caribbean Academy of Sciences, in a bid both to raise the status of science in the region and encourage a closer working relationship between researchers on different islands. An impressive programme of activities has been established (see page 735). But the academy still has a long way to go to achieve its objectives. High among the obstacles is the lack of an indigenous scientific culture in the Caribbean. This is partly the result of a geographical location that has allowed the region to survive on its natural resources, rather than requiring it to survive on its wits. The legacy is a low level of investment in research and development that few outside the scientific community see the need to change.

But change is essential if the region is to thrive in a global, knowledge-based economy. And it needs to begin in the schools and on the streets. Imaginative solutions are required. One suggestion heard at the academy's tenth anniversary meeting, for example, was to tap into the curiosity of the young by exploring the science tacitly involved in fabricating instruments for the ubiquitous steel bands. A more productive meeting of the two cultures is difficult to imagine.